Waltercio Caldas is known for his rigorous formal concerns, which arrive from investigations into human perception.

Widely considered by critics, curators and writers to be one of the most important artists emerging from Brazil in the years following the Neo-Concrete movement of the early 1960s, Caldas frequently uses forms that defy one’s sense of volume and depth perception. Viewers are often surprised by his objects which reference architectural and perspectival space that is not wholly present. His materials – often stainless steel, thread, granite, ice or cloth – become part of the experience created or intimated. These materials suggest an ephemerality, further confirming Caldas’ desire to let the viewer’s experience cultivate meaning in the work.

Caldas (b. Rio de Janeiro, 1946) lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He will participate in the forthcoming 33rd São Paulo Bienal, both as an artist and guest curator.  Caldas was recently the subject of a touring retrospective that opened at Fundação Ibere Camargo, Brazil (2012) then traveled to Pinacoteca São Paulo, Brazil (2013), and made its final stop at Blanton Museum in Austin, TX (2013). He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janeiro (2012); Daros Latinamerica, Zurich, Switzerland (2010); and Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2010). Caldas’ work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil, among others.

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